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Sunday, November 24, 2013

Disney Fun Day- Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical starring
Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns. Julie Andrews
plays Mary Poppins, the magical nanny who comes to work for the unhappy Banks
family. The unruly children Jane and Michael Banks regularly drive their
nannies away with their messy habits and tendency to escape for unsupervised
adventures in the park. Their distant banker father decides to take the task of
hiring a new nanny away from his distracted suffragette wife, but the children
write their own job description, which mysteriously flies up the chimney and
directly to Mary Poppins.

I love this movie. It charming, delightful,
and full of magic and it still holds up for children today especially
considering it was made nearly 50 years ago. The story it is based upon was
actually written nearly 80 years ago! Most people are now aware of the fact
that this Disney movie was based upon the book series written by P.L. Travers. Walt
Disney actually spent 20 years working to acquire the rights to produce this
movie, a story that will be brought to the big screen this December in Saving Mr. Banks. I am beyond thrilled to see this movie! Tom Hanks looks like he will
be a wonderful Walt Disney, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the
story of how Mary Poppins came to be. I do know that P.L. Travers was ultimately
disappointed with the final result and felt it was a betrayal to her books.
Though I can’t yet understand how anyone could hate Mary Poppins, I am looking
forward to seeing a little more of Travers’ side of the story. But I am getting
side tracked!! Back to Mary Poppins!

The music in Mary Poppins is delightful and
the dancing is superb. Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke are an incredibly
talented and wonderful pair! Remember the robin Mary Poppins sings with while cleaning up the nursery? That is Julie Andrews whistling! Another interesting musical fact, the song “The Beautiful Briny Sea” sung by David Tomlinson and Angela Lansbury in Bedknobs and Broomsticks was originally written for Mary Poppins. In the P.L. Travers
stories Mary Poppins takes the children on many adventures, including to the
bottom of the sea! The song was ultimately cut from Mary Poppins and though I
would have loved to see Mary Poppins bring Jane and Michael on more adventures,
I feel that this song in particular is much better suited to the Island of
Naboombu!

I've spent a significant amount of time trying to decide which
song is my favourite from Mary Poppins, but it doesn't seem to be working! So
instead of trying to pick one I like the best, I've decided to include one of
the most incredible routines I've ever watched "Step in Time!". The
choreography, the set design, and even the pyrotechnics combine to make this show
stopping number!

But Mary Poppins isn't just a musical joy
as there was also incredible work put into combining the live-action with the
animation such as the entire sequence within the chalk drawing. My favourite
part of this is actually the carousel. This was an actual carousel that was
built and painted to look like it was animated. The close up of the carousel
operator is a close up of the actually carousel with the animation overlaid for
the operator and the shadows passing him! Though, Bert’s interaction with the
fox is also pretty darn incredible. All around there is just so much incredible
attention to detail!! And we can't forget about the beautiful views of the
city. These matte paintings were created by Peter Ellenshaw on large sheets of glass with holes cut to allow light to be
shone through, illuminating the city.

Now of course, I do have some problems with
this movie but they are purely personal. I want to know more about Mary and
Bert. What is there backstory? How do they know each other? Will they actually
see each other again? I want details!! But there is one moment I know a lot of
people took exception to- that Mary Poppins refused to tell the children she
loved them. But I must say that I actually never had this issue which is weird
for anyone that knows me. But I seemed to always be OK with the fact that Mary
was there to fix the family, not become a part of it. She was there to show Mr.
Banks the wonderful gift he had right in front of him.

What I also love about this movie is that
it brings together so many wonderful actors. My favourite type of movie are the
ones with people in them I love so much that as soon as I finish watching I
start looking for another movie with them in it, simply because I'm not
finished! And then of course there is the fact that I'm just not ready to let
go of that Disney magic!! And so I'd like to share my list of movies I'd like
see again having watched Mary Poppins, though not all of them are Disney! I
highly recommended everyone check out at least some of these incredible finds!

2 comments:

I absolutely love the movie Mary Poppins! However, just recently my friend and I decided to watch this movie. Its been more than 10 years since I’ve last watched it and I could not recall the bank scene I did not remember it at all! I wonder as a child if I just found it so boring and would fast forward it maybe? Because I do remember the chim chim cheree song which comes after that scene. What is your opinion of the dreadfully boring bank scene? Do you feel it is relevant in the movie or could it have been left out?

Oh my goodness no! The bank scenes, while they may be boring in comparison to the rest of the movie, were crucial to the story. The whole point of Mary Poppins coming to live with the Bankses was to save the family from themselves, and particularly Mr. Banks. He must be shown that work shouldn’t be the most important thing in his life. For the audience to believe Mr. Banks’ change in attitude at the end of the film we have to understand what his life was like at work. I think that you may find a new appreciation for these scenes after seeing the new Disney “Saving Mr. Banks” which will hopefully provide a little more explanation!

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